


Life in the Beast Metropolis

by EdamamiTomoe



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Politics (in Gensokyo), Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 16:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20312614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdamamiTomoe/pseuds/EdamamiTomoe
Summary: The everyday difficulties a human spirit faced in the Beast Metropolis.





	Life in the Beast Metropolis

It was a bright red evening in the Beast Metropolis when the human spirit entered the establishment and took a seat at the conveyor belt sushi bar, drawing the attention of all the beast spirits seated there and quieting their conversations. Undaunted by the leering stares and the hushed mumbling by her unwelcoming peers, the human spirit simply poured her own thing of soy sauce and wasabi.

With tensions still in the air, a wolf spirit seated nearby turned to the human spirit and said with a growl, “Unusual to see a human spirit in these parts of town. Isn’t it past your curfew, primate?”

Undeterred by the wolf spirit’s taunting, the human spirit simply retrieved a plate of maki roll from the conveyor belt, and set about having her dinner.

As if offended by being ignored, the wolf spirit leaned in closer and tried again, “You know that human spirits generally don’t stay out this late if they want to live, right?”

Tired of the tension in her establishment, the bear spirit chef cleared her throat and said, “Why don’t you leave her alone now, wolf?”

“And why would I do that, huh?” The aggressor now turned her attention towards the chef, her ears flattened as if threatened, “You serving human spirits now too, eh?”

“I don’t care who I serve,” the bear chef said plainly, her voice deep and her gaze unwavering, “money is money, and if you dare scare off any of my customers, I won’t be happy about it. You understand?”

“Alright, alright.” The wolf spirit backed off, and turned her attention back to the other spirits she was eating with, as the tension in the establishment faded, and chatter returned.

Despite that, the human spirit knew that her harassment wouldn’t be over until she had left. Even as she focused on eating, she could feel the occasional stares thrown her way, and she could hear some disgruntled mumbling about human spirits. Perhaps the loudest of said mumbling, which was not even a mumble at that point, came from the wolf spirit who taunted her just moments ago, as she chatted with her fellow coworkers.

“It’s ridiculous, they just pay everyone now,” the wolf spirit complained, “whatever happened to competition and working your way to the top, huh?”

“Right? Next thing you know, that Haniyasushin wants employers to pay everyone the same.” Said the disgruntled elk spirit, “It’s like she wants everyone to stop working hard, and just sit on their asses all day.”

“Honestly.”

“Hmph, the way I see it, that god just wants to bring ruin to the big corporations.” A pigeon spirit chimed in, “Fair wages, protection for unions, nondiscrimination against human spirits, hmph, it’s like she just wants to bleed folks like the Keiga clan dry. She’ll destroy the free market at this point.”

“Can’t wait for her to be gone honestly.” The elk spirit spoke again, as she was about to wipe her mouth with the sleeve of her suit before remembering that she had a napkin, “The office was way better without those human spirits worming their way in and getting paid a living wage. They’re nowhere near as capable as us!”

“You can say that again,” said the wolf spirit as she took a sip of her beer and peered at the human spirit sitting nearby, “I reckon a whole lotta them are gonna lose their jobs when those haniwas aren’t marching around protecting unions anymore, eh?”

“Definitely. It’s better for the economy that way.” The elk spirit noticed the wolf spirit’s staring at the human spirit once again, and leered at her as well.

Fairly aware that she was being talked about, the human spirit remained undaunted, as she continued to ignore them and focus on having dinner instead. Doing this seemed to have made her irresistible to the wolf spirit’s unwanted attention, as she once again leaned in to harass her.

“You know, human, you’re pretty brave to be venturing out this late past your curfew,” the wolf spirit tried again, staring down at the human spirit, “What’s your story, huh? The Primate Spirit Garden too good for you?”

Turning her gaze to meet the wolf’s, the human spirit said, her voice stalwart and unintimidated, “I was simply getting bored of eating the same things over and over again.”

“Heh, that so?” The wolf snorted as her companions snickered and laughed, “You know, things may be doing A-okay for you human spirits during the day because of those haniwas marching around for now, but at night, this is still a dog-eat-dog world. When you step outside, you best be watching your back, or someone just might eat you right up.”

The human spirit furrowed her brows as she stared back at the wolf spirit, who was now bearing her fangs and licking her lips, fairly clearly making a threat. Not letting fear show in her eyes though, the human spirit maintained eye contact, staring deep into the wolf’s, as if challenging her, even though deep down, she knew that if she was attacked, she wouldn’t survive. 

After a moment, the wolf’s grin faded, and she turned her attention back to her coworkers. Finishing up their meal and paying her bill, she announced, “Alright, come on ladies, we gotta get back to the office before our boss gets mad.”

The pigeon spirit slipped her suit jacket back on as she paid her portion of the bills, “Gotta do more overtime, it’s crunchtime season.”

“Something the human spirits probably can’t handle.” The elk spirit paid as well, still leering at the human spirit as the trio left the establishment. 

Once the three primary aggressors have left, the human spirit sighed and relaxed, finally left alone to her own devices. The bear spirit chef simply shook her head and sighed, “Don’t pay them any attention, especially not that wolf. She never makes threats.”

“Huh? What would you call that then?” The human spirit looked up at the bear spirit, confused.

“She’s a regular here,” the bear chef explained, “she’s just always been like that, working under the Keiga clan all her life. I’ve heard her use that line a hundred times on pretty faces like you, it’s just her way of telling you to be careful when you go home tonight.”

“...Huh? I don’t understand.” The human spirit was even more confused now, the chef’s words still not clicking in her mind.

“Bluntly put, she wants you to stay safe tonight. She just can’t say it outright to anyone, human spirit or not.”

“...Oh.” The human spirit’s cheeks slowly turned red as she realized the implications, and quickly became speechless.

“She’s here basically every night she has overtime, if you’re wondering.”

“Um… alright.” The human spirit didn’t know what else to say, and instead quickly turned her attention back to finishing up her dinner as well.

Once she had paid her bills, with money that she would have never had if it wasn’t for a minimum wage, the human spirit left the establishment to head back home. What the wolf spirit said was true, even with Haniyasushin’s laws, the Beast Metropolis was still a dangerous place for human spirits like her. But even so, as she headed back to the Primate Spirit Garden, she simply couldn’t help but wonder if she would bump into that wolf spirit again sometimes.


End file.
